The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-12-10
Frisssm for The ArkaasaR TForster. BROKEN-NOSED BILLS
 STORY.
BY L. L. FAHNswoRrH.

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 the road, there you always find truth shining in their midst. do not know who it was that made that remark, but anyway I don't believe 1t. l think if the truth ever shone on such an oc- casion that 1t wasn't really genuine light but only sort of monkey -shine. I was once listening to crowd of en- gineers and trainmen unloading their weird tales to each other, fragments of which could occasionally catch through the murky atmosphere of profanity surrounding them and the gentle froa- froa of tobacco juice as 1t smote upon the stove, and thought at times that perceived something resembling truth shining in their midst, but 1t appeared to me that if 1t was it had its hat all smashed in, its collar unbuttoned and iabbed up un- der its ears and certain parts of its red hose which had come through its pants waving out like 4 danger signal on the rear end of a caboose on cold day. One engineer said: Suicides among cattle and stock are growing more frequent every day on our road. and we have to Hay off on nearly every other run to make affidavits about it. Our stock claim agent Ia kept busy night and day getting let ters of the deceased to bring before the court showing financial or domestic troubles to be the cause of the rash act"
 "Pshaw !" remarked man from an- other road, contemptuously. You fellows are way behind. Why, down on our road we furnish the cows and other stock with our train schedules so they can know when train is com ing, and we don't have to get up any such old gag as that. We don't need any stock claim agent"
 "There was mule," broke in fire man, reflectively, "wot lived up at a station on our line, as got killed acci- dentally the other day He had been up there so long and had been workin' around the station for Us so much that the boys kinder got to knowin' him and lovin' him. It was a junction point, and we used to do good deal of switchin' there and 'kickin' in of cars. Well, sir, that mule used to save us all that work. He used to kick the cars in there and couple 'em up and made our work light, until, as 1 said, we sorter got to lovin' him and feelin' like he was one of der boys. And, besides, he did it all for nothin' i; he was mighty obligin' sort of ani- mile. But one day, as he was coup lin' some cars together-which he did with his teeth. you understand, the engineer thought he was signaling to him to come ahead, when he was only brushin' hoss-fiy oti with his tail, and McGilligan, which was my engineer then, thinkin' as it was the usual signal, comes ahead and smashes his head all to smithereens. An me, l it's a sad world w And the fireman paused to wipe away a perfectly dry 1 tear.
 Then tall, angular individual, tot tering under the soubriquet of Broken Nosed Bill, smiled sinister smile and said "Thats all right about your mule, boys, but the old reliable tramp gets away with him every time. There was monstrous pile of 'em on road out west I was runnin' or onst. They would get on the front of the baggage car, and on top of the coaches and everywhere, but they seemed mostly to take a fancy to ridin' in front on the cowcatcher, where we couldn't see lem good. We got SO used to havin' them ride there that we would leave lem alone. One night saw one jump on at station and few minutes afterwards, as we was rippin' along fifty or sixty miles an hour, we struck big bull and it rolled up on the cowcatcher. and we carried it two or three hundred yards before it dropped off Then we stopped, and ] turns to my fireman and says | Jim, I wonder how that tramp feels now!' So jumps down and goes around to the front of the engine, and what do you think I finds? Gentleman, that durned tramp had milked the COW into his hat and was drinkin' it as cool as you please, when L."
 "Hold onw yelled the crowd, rising up as one man and catching hold of him, "you said it was bull"
 "Did F" replied B-N-Bill, with a crestfallen air. "Well, l ain't sur prised bit; it's just like me to go ahead and make - fool mistake like that and spoil a good story. acknowledge the corn"
 And after they had adjourned to the nearest gilded palace all the rest of them acknowledged the corn, ,too-most of them taking it straight-while Broken Nosed Bill, who paid for it, stood by singing softly. to himself "Won't somebody please come and kick me-"